The wine and spirits industry loses significant revenue due to illicit activities in the supply chain. One of the problems is a proliferation of counterfeit goods. Another problem is goods that have been tampered with, where a tamperer will drain them of their original contents and replace them with a cheap and inferior substitute. The concern with such illicit activities goes even beyond the loss of the sale itself because the proliferation of a poor quality counterfeit product may hurt the reputation of an otherwise well respected label. Furthermore, there are concerns that a counterfeit product or one that has been tampered with may be contaminated with substances that could cause serious health problems. The industry has tried to tackle this illicit activity by implementing countermeasures such as holograms to help identify a genuine product. However these efforts have been largely unsuccessful because counterfeiters have the capability of reproducing them. Therefore, there is a need for a secure system that will allow anyone in the supply chain, from the manufacturer to the customer, to easily detect whether a container has been tampered with or is counterfeit.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus and method for detecting tampering with containers which can not be easily duplicated by counterfeiters.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus and method for detecting tampering with containers with allows anyone in the supply chain to detect whether a container has been tampered with or is counterfeit.